THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE 
IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


SAMUEL  M.  ZWEMER 

' I ' ipi  tmmH 


STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  SERIES  OF  PAMPHLETS 
ISSUED  BY  THE  STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  MOVE- 
MENT. 125  EAST  27th  STREET.  NEW  YORK  CITY 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE 
IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  SIXTH  INTER- 
NATIONAL CONVENTION  OF  THE  STUDENT  VOLUNTEER 
MOVEMENT.  ROCHESTER.  NEW  YORK.  JANUARY  2.  1910 


BY 

SAMUEL  M.  ZWEMER,  D.D.,  F.R.G.S. 

Candidate  Secretary  Student  Volunteer  Movement 


STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  MOVEMENT 
125  EAST  27th  STREET 
NEW  YOPIK  CITY 


Copyright,  1910,  by 
Student  Volunteer  Movement 
for  Foreign  Missions 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


OHAMMED  was  a true  prophet  at  least  once 
in  his  life.  He  taught  that  among  the  signs  of 
the  coming  end  of  the  world  and  of  the  fulfill- 
ment of  Islam’s  desire  would  be  the  rising  of  the 
sun  in  the  West.  It  has  risen.  From  the  uttermost  Western 
confines  of  the  Caliphate’s  temporal  empire  marched  those 
Albanian  troops  carrying  upon  their  banners,  “Liberty,  equal- 
ity, fraternity,  a constitution.”  This  was  the  first  proclama- 
tion of  the  new  era,  and  the  dawn  of  liberty  for  all  Western 
Asia.  Those  of  us  who  are  reading  the  papers  and  praying 
for  the  coming  of  God’s  Kingdom,  and  who  remember  that 
only  three  years  ago,  at  the  Cairo  Conference,  a company  of 
veteran  missionaries — some  of  whom  had  been  fighting  the  bat- 
tle for  fifty  years — knelt  in  prayer  before  a map  of  the  Moslem 
world  £md  prayed  God  to  give  liberty,  are  still  rubbing  our 
eyes  with  astonishment  at  what  God  has  wrought.  More  sur- 
prising and  sudden  than  the  transformation  of  Aladdin’s  lamp  in 
the  “Arabian  Nights”  have  been,  not  the  fictitious,  but  the 
real  and  stupendous  changes  which  God’s  spirit  and 
God’s  providence  have  wrought  in  Western  Asia.  Instead  o' 
universal  espionage,  freedom;  instead  of  despotism,  constitu 
tions  and  parliaments;  instead  of  a press  that  was  gagged  ano 
throttled,  a free  press;  instead  of  a grinding  system  of  pass- 
ports and  permits,  free  emigration  and  immigration  all  over 


2 THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


Persia  and  Arabia  and  Turkey;  instead  of  banishment,  am- 
nesty; and  instead  of  despotism  ruling  in  the  capitals  against 
the  rights  of  the  people  and  crushing  them  down,  Abdul 
Hamid  a prisoner  at  Salonica  and  parliaments  sitting  in 
Teheran  and  in  Constantinople.  The  great  army  of  spies, 
numbering  forty  thousand  and  said  to  cost  two  million  pounds  a 
year,  has  been  abolished  and  the  peoples  of  Turkey  and  Per- 
sia, blindfolded,  gagged  and  manacled  for  centuries,  are  almost 
delirious  with  new-found  liberty.  The  Damascus  railway 
has  reached  Medina  and  electric  lights  are  burning  over  the 
prophet’s  tomb.  What  hath  God  wrought  in  these  last  three 
years  throughout  the  vast  region  of  Western  Asia! 

Turkey,  Persia  and  Arabia,  the  three  great  Moslem 
lands  of  the  nearer  East,  have  experienced  greater  industrial, 
intellectual,  social  and  religious  changes  within  the  past  four 
years  than  befell  them  in  the  last  four  centuries.  Neverthe- 
less, the  most  sane  statesmen  and  the  most  thoughtful  mission- 
aries are  agreed  that  nothing  has  ended  in  Turkey  or  in  Persia; 
but  something  has  begun  in  those  lands  which  every  eye  is 
strained  to  understand. 

Western  Asia  no  less  than  Eastern  Asia  should  rivet  our 
attention  because  of  the  impending  struggle  between  the  Cross 
and  the  Crescent  for  supremacy,  a struggle  that  is  inseparable 
from  the  awakening  of  those  great  lands.  The  populations 
there  are  smaller,  the  areas  are  more  limited,  the  races  may 
not  have  the  same  mental  and  moral  calibre — though  their 
inferiority  is  not  proven;  but  the  influence  of  Western  Asia  has 
always  been  world-wide,  and  if  the  Moslem  peril  in  Africa, 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA  3 


of  which  Bishop  Hartzell  has  spoken,  is  a real  peril  and  a 
real  menace,  the  security  against  that  peril  and  the  cure  for 
that  menace  is  foqnd  in  Western  Asia,  because  Western  Asia 
has  always  dominated  the  thought  of  Africa. 

' I desire  to  call  your  attention  to  three  aspects  of  the 
impending  struggle  throughout  the  whole  of  Western  Asia. 
First,  to  the  great  battlefield,  and  to  the  forces  which  already 
are  prepared  for  the  work  of  God.  (Call  it  a battlefield,  call 
it  an  arena,  call  it  what  you  please;  it  is  the  scene  of  God’s 
action  carried  forward  according  to  His  own  plans.)  In  the 
second  place,  the  nature,  the  origin,  the  character,  the  issues 
of  the  struggle.  And,  finally,  the  certainty  of  coming  victory. 

I.  What  is  the  battlefield  of  Western  Asia?  Its  area 
includes  no  less  than  2,600,000  square  miles,  ten  times  the 
area  of  all  France,  or  nearly  that  of  all  the  United  States;  amd 
in  it  there  is  a population  of  no  less  than  36,000,000  souls. 
Leaving  out  for  the  instant  all  that  part  of  Central  Asia  which 
by  its  ideals  and  ideas,  its  religion  and  its  language,  belongs 
to  Western  Asia,  the  great  heart  of  Asia — -Afghanistan,  Rus- 
sian Turkestan,  Khiva,  Bokhara  and  Chinese  Turkestan — ^we 
stand  before  a population  in  Persia,  Arabia  and  the  Turkish 
Empire,  including  Syria  and  Palestine,  of  no  less  than  36,000,- 
000  people.  Of  these  30,000,000  in  round  numbers  are 
Mohammedans.  I am  leaving  out  of  the  problem — although, 
thanks  be  to  God,  He  has  not  left  out  of  the  solution — the 
6,000,000  of  those  who  in  spite  of  fire  and  sword  and  dungeoa 
have  remained  true  to  the  faith  of  their  fathers ; I mean  the  old 
Oriental  churches.  But  for  our  present  consideration  we  have 


4 THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


here  a massed  population  of  30,000,000  Mohammedans, 
which  inhabits  three  countries,  bearing  a very  strategic  rela- 
tion to  the  whole  Mohammedan  world.  Arabia  is  the  cradle 
of  its  creed,  Persia  of  its  philosophy,  Turkey  of  its  politics. 

Persia,  in  a real  sense,  has  for  many  centuries  been  the 
intellectual  and  religious  fulcrum  of  all  Central  Asia.  She 
wields  an  influence  in  the  Moslem  world  to-day,  and  has  had 
an  influence  for  over  a thousand  years,  out  of  all  proportion 
to  the  number  of  her  inhabitants  or  the  character  of  her  peo- 
ple. I refer  to  the  influence  of  Persia  as  a disintegrating 
power  in  the  Mohammedan  world.  Mother  of  Moslem  here- 
sies, this  land  has  been  the  center  and  source  of  authority  for 
all  Mohammedans  who  were  not  of  the  orthodox  party.  The 
Babiis  found  their  leader  and  their  strength  in  Persia.  Every 
movement  against  orthodox  Mohammedanism  had  its  rise  in 
that  wonderful  country  of  Aryan  blood  and  thought  which 
rebelled  against  the  bald  monotheism  of  the  Semites  from  the 
deserts  of  Arabia.  Here  Aryan  thought  has  largely  modi- 
fied the  Semitic  creed.  From  Persia  Mohammedam  mysticism, 
poetry  and  philosophy  have  gone  out  on  the  wings  of  literature 
to  the  ends  of  the  world.  Ajid  today,  not  only  by  the  camp- 
fires of  the  Sahara  desert  or  in  the  mosques  of  India  and  Java, 
but  even  in  Oxford  and  Berlin  you  find  students  of  Hafiz  and 
Omar  Khayyam  and  Jelal-ud-din. 

The  Turks  are  a ruling  race.  They  have  often  been 
greatly  abused  in  the  public  press,  but  in  family  life  and  as 
specimens  of  strong,  manly  character,  they  are,  as  every  mis- 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


5 


sionary  to  Turkey  will  testify,  high  in  the  scale  of  the  family 
of  nations. 

In  natural  resources  Turkey  is  the  fairest  and  richest 
portion  of  the  Old  World.  Under  a good  government,  these 
undeveloped  resources  would  make  her  one  of  the  richest  coun- 
tries in  Asia.  Her  population  includes  a great  variety  of 
races  and  religions,  each  able  to  contribute  something  of  real 
worth  to  the  assets  of  national  greatness.  The  Albanians,  the 
Armenians,  the  Greeks  and  the  Kurds  have  vigor  of  manhood, 
pride  of  race  and  a splendid  history  of  leadership  in  the  past, 
while  the  Ottoman  Turks  are  all  of  them  born  rulers  and 
warriors. 

Turkey  has  for  four  hundred  years  held  the  caliphate, 
the  papacy  of  the  Moslem  world.  In  the  hands  of  the  Caliph 
are  the  old  mantle  of  Mohammed,  signifying  his  prophetic  au- 
thority, and  the  sword  of  Mohammed,  signifying  his  political 
dominion;  and  every  part  of  the  Moslem  world,  every  Friday 
at  noon  prayer,  remembers  the  great  political  capital  and  prays 
Allah  to  bless  the  temporal  ruler  of  the  Moslem  world. 

What  Jerusalem  and  Palestine  are  to  Christendom,  this 
and  vastly  more  Mecca  and  Arabia  are  to  the  Mohammedans. 
They  are  the  center  toward  which  for  centuries  prayers  and 
pilgrimages  have  gravitated.  How  a Student  Volunteer  Con- 
vention shrinks  in  comparative  size  when  you  try  to  imagine 
the  audience  that  collects,  not  in  a half  circle,  but  in  a perfect 
circle,  around  the  Kaaba,  the  Beit  Allah — an  audience  of 
70,000  pilgrims,  more  than  fourteen  times  the  capacity  of 
Convention  Hall  in  Rochester!  They  have  been  gathering 


6 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


there  yearly  for  thirteen  centuries,  without  having  traveling 
expenses  paid;  without  attractive  music  or  speakers,  crowding 
from  every  part  of  the  Moslem  world  to  the  heart  of  Islam 
for  the  deepening  of  their  spiritual  life.  That  typifies  the 
strategic  importance  of  Arabia. 

Arabia  also  lies  at  the  cross-roads  of  the  commerce  of 
three  continents.  It  is  the  causeway  into  Africa,  the  bridge 
between  Europe  and  Asia.  And  today,  there  is  in  North 
Arabia  a struggle  to  make  that  great  old  highway  of  history, 
Mesopotamia,  the  highway  of  the  modern  nations.  The  goal 
of  the  game  is  the  commerce  of  all  Asia.  The  pawns  are  the 
Arabs  and  the  Turks;  the  players,  the  German  Emperor  and 
the  King  of  England ; the  checker-board,  the  great  Mesopotam- 
ian Valley.  When  the  Turkish  Sultan  gave  Germany  the  con- 
cession for  the  Bagdad  railway,  he  also  gave  the  right  to  hold 
Turkish  soil  no  less  than  twelve  miles  on  each  side  of  that 
railway  for  1,200  miles  across  the  whole  of  North  Arabia. 
And  although  Germany  was  checkmated  when  Great  Britain 
took  Kuweit,  she  is  pushing  ahead  with  her  railway.  On  the 
other  hand.  Sir  William  Willcocks,  the  wizard  of  the  Nile,  has 
been  sent  by  the  Young  Turks  to  open  irrigation  works  and 
flood  three  million  desert  acres  with  new  life  and  make  the 
desert  to  blossom  like  the  rose.  It  is  proposed  to  run  a British 
railway,  to  be  completed  in  two  years,  all  the  way  from  Bag- 
dad to  Damascus  and  on  to  Cairo, 

According  to  the  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce  an3 
on  the  authority  of  Captain  Mahan,  the  future  international 
center  of  Asiatic  politics  must  be  sought  in  the  Persian  Gulf. 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


7 


The  present  political  condition,  therefore,  of  Arabia  deeply 
interests  not  only  Great  Britain  and  Germany,  but  France  and 
Russia.  Turkish  rule  exists  in  only  three  of  the  seven  prov- 
inces, and  British  influence  obtains  along  the  entire  coast  of  the 
Persian  Gulf  and  the  Indian  Ocean.  The  Persian  Gulf  has 
become  an  English  lake  and  British  rule  has  extended  far  in- 
land from  Aden,  while  her  influence  is  supreme  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Oman.  Within  the  next  few  years  the  Tigris-Euphrates 
basin  is  destined  to  be  the  scene  of  the  greatest  contest  for 
commercial  supremacy  since  the  partition  of  Africa. 

These  three  great  nations,  then,  form  the  arena  of  the 
conflict.  And  what  are  the  populations.  The  Turkish  race, 
the  Persian  race,  the  Arab  race,  three  of  the  ruling  races  of 
the  world.  The  Persians  are  the  Frenchmen  of  the  East;  the 
Turks,  in  a real  sense  the  Germans  of  the  East,  with  the  same 
military  aspirations,  the  same  military  character;  and  the  Arabs, 
the  Anglo-Saxons  of  the  Orient.  The  Arab  philosopher,  Ed- 
Damiri,  spoke  truth  when  he  said:  “Verily,  wisdom  came  down 
on  three  from  God:  on  the  hand  of  the  Chinese,  on  the  brain 
of  the  Frank,  and  on  the  tongue  of  the  Arab.”  Forty-five 
millions  speak  the  language  of  Arabia.  Two  hundred  and 
thirty  millions  pray  five  times  a day  the  prayer  that  Mohammed 
taught  them  and  in  his  tongue.  Such  is  the  arena,  and  these 
are  the  ruling  races — not  to  speak  of  other  strong  peoples,  the 
Albanians,  the  Armenians,  the  Kurds,  who  have  all  shown 
magnificent  energies  in  the  history  of  politics  and  religion. 

Asiatic  Turkey  already  has  a total  of  two  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  railway.  This,  with  the  splendid 


8 THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


harbors  and  river  navigation,  makes  the  greater  part  of  the 
Empire  accessible.  And  in  that  vast  area  what  are  the  forces? 
Over  six  hundred  Protestant  missionaries  are  now  at  work  in 
Persia,  Arabia  and  Turkey,  and  mission  stations  are  dotted  all 
over  these  countries:  Constantinople,  Salonica,  Adrianople, 
Smyrna,  Bagdad,  Aleppo,  Beirut,  Brussa,  Kalsariyah,  Mosul, 
Mardin,  Adana,  Jerusalem.  Why  do  I give  the  names? 
Every  name  is  eloquent  with  the  sacrifice  of  life  and  love  and 
tears,  and  no  less  eloquent  with  potentialities  for  the  coming 
conflict — Trebizond,  Diarbekr,  Tabriz,  Teheran,  Ispahan, 
Kirman,  Yezd,  Shiraz,  Aden,  Muscat,  Bahrein  and  Busrah. 
There  is  not  in  the  entire  territory  a single  city  of  all  those 
given  in  the  “Statesman’s  Year  Book  ’’  as  having  a population 
exceeding  twenty  thousand  w^ich  is  not  already  occupied,  save 
Mecca,  Medina,  Kerbela,  and  Meshed,  closed  by  the  hand  of 
fanaticism  because  they  are  sacred  cities.  This  is  the  finger 
of  God.  If  there  is  to  be  a struggle  in  Western  Asia — and 
v/ho  will  deny  that  there  is — that  struggle  has  been  already 
decided  strategically  by  the  pre-occupation  of  every  important 
center,  through  the  hand  of  God’s  providence,  by  Christian 
missions.  In  this  mighty  conflict,  our  weapons  are  not  carnal, 
God  forbid.  Our  weapons  are  not  carnal,  and  they  know  it. 
The  only  weapon  we  have  is  love.  The  only  sword  we  have 
is  the  sword  of  God’s  word. 

la  all  five  of  these  Moslem  lands,  Turkey,  Palestine, 
Syria,  Persia,  Arabia,  our  missionaries  are  engaged  in  educa- 
benal,  medical  and  evangelistic  work.  The  Bible  has  been 
translated  into  all  the  languages  of  Western  Asia,  and  a large 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


9 


Christian  literature  prepared  for  its  polyglot  people.  At  the 
Beirut  Press  alone  sixty  million  pages  of  Christian  books  were 
printed  in  a single  year,  and  in  one  month  orders  were  on  file 
for  a hundred  thousand  copies  of  the  Arabic  scriptures,  includ- 
ing eighteen  cases  of  Bibles  sent  to  Shanghai  for  the  Moslems 
of  China!  What  stronger  proof  can  be  given  of  the  strategic 
importance  of  Syria  in  the  evangelization  of  the  Moslem  world? 
And  who  can  measure  the  influence  and  power  of  such  great 
educational  centers  as  Robert  College,  the  Syrian  Protestant 
College,  and  similar  institutions  at  Marsovan,  Aintab,  Smyrna, 
Tarsus,  Marash  and  Teheran?  Robert  College  has  for  the 
past  thirty  years  educated  and  trained  fifteen  nationalities  in  the 
principles  of  justice  and  self-government  and  made  possible  the 
present  new  era  in  Turkey.  “It  was  you  Americans,”  said  a 
Turk  to  President  Tracy  of  Anatolia  College,  “who,  coming 
to  Turkey,  found  us  in  darkness  and  showed  us  the  way  to  the 
light.”  The  American  missionaries  were  the  pioneers  of  mod- 
ern education  in  every  city  of  Western  Asia.  Two  score  mis- 
sion hospitals  and  dispensaries  dot  the  map  from  Constantinople 
to  Aden,  and  from  Smyrna  to  Kirman.  Medical  missionaries 
have  not  only  disarmed  suspicion  and  prejudice,  but  have  won 
the  lifelong  friendship  of  tens  of  thousands  of  the  people.  One 
hospital  in  Arabia  had  1 3,397  out-patients  last  year! 

The  march  of  Western  civilization  and  the  work  of  mis- 
sions in  all  these  centers,  with  the  stirring  of  God’s  spirit  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people  so  long  under  bondage  and  oppression,  have 
precipitated  a conflict  and  a struggle  which  is  inevitable  and 
which  none  can  hold  back. 


I 0 THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


II.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  conflict?  The  coming 
struggle  will  be  not  solely  religious,  but  an  educational,  indus- 
trial, social  and  political  upheaval  in  which  religion  plays  a 
chief  part.  The  Turks  themselves  see  what  is  coming.  In 
a leading  editorial  in  one  of  the  most  influential  Turkish  papers, 
only  a few  months  ago,  appeared  these  words:  “The  Moslem 
world  is  in  the  throes  of  a regeneration  which  will  affect  its 
social  as  well  as  its  political  condition,  and,  indirectly,  must 
concern  its  ecclesiastical  affairs.  It  will  undoubtedly  have  the 
same  influence  that  the  reformation  of  Luther” — mark  the 
words — “and  the  French  Revolution  had  upon  society  and 
culture.  The  dethronement  of  three  absolute  monarchs  in  three 
independent  Mohammedan  states  is  a novel  chapter  in  the  his- 
tory of  our  religion  and  calls  for  grave  reflection,  fellow 
Moslems.  The  social  and  economical  affairs  of  a nation,  as 
well  as  its  religious  affairs,  are  absolutely  allied  to  its  politics, 
and  there  cannot  be  a serious  disturbance  in  the  one  without 
having  a great  influence  on  the  other.  It  means  either  a decay 
or  progress,  because  there  is  no  such  thing” — wonderful  words 
from  Turkey — “because  there  is  no  such  thing  as  rest  or  stag- 
nation in  society.”  These  words,  coming  from  an  authorita- 
tive source,  put  before  us  the  real  nature  of  the  struggle.  It  is 
four-fold:  between  two  political  parties,  between  two  civiliza- 
tions, between  two  religions,  and  ultimately  between  two  great 
leaders. 

First  of  all — there  is  the  struggle  between  two  political 
parties,  the  party  of  progress  and  the  party  of  conservatism, 
the  party  of  the  constitution  and  the  party  of  the  royalist,  the 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA  1 1 


party  of  the  old  Koran  and  the  party  of  the  new  regime.  By 
whatever  names  they  are  called,  it  is  simply  the  repetition  of 
history — the  liberals,  the  radicals,  over  against  the  conservatives ; 
those  who  would  change  the  order  of  society  and  those  who 
would  hold  to  the  ancient  order.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that 
the  revolutionary  parties  both  in  Persia  and  Turkey  were  not 
anti-Islamic,  nor  pan-Islamic;  neither  professedly  religious  nor 
irreligious  in  character;  but  were  the  voice  of  the  people  crying 
for  liberty,  the  expression  of  general  social  discontent. 

For  many  years  the  better  class  of  Persians,  Turks  and 
Arabs  had  freely  acknowledged  the  ignorance,  injustice  and 
weakness  of  the  Moslem  world  and  were  groping  for  a remedy. 
The  fuel  was  ready  in  the  educated  class  who  dared  to  think; 
the  spark  that  kindled  the  flame  was  the  victory  of  Japan  over 
Russia,  which  had  its  influence  throughout  all  Asia  and  proved 
that  Asiatics  can  hold  their  own  against  Europeans,  and  that  a 
new  nationalism  is  the  only  remedy  against  foreign  occupation 
in  lands  like  Persia  and  Turkey.  But  how  shall  the  new 
nationalism  deal  with  the  old  religion?  Here  is  the  struggle. 

The  brief  history  of  constitutional  government  in  Persia 
has  already  proved  the  reality  of  the  conflict.  The  Persian 
constitution  was  ready  for  adoption,  when  the  leaders  were  com- 
pelled to  preface  the  document  with  an  article  accepting  the 
authority  of  the  religious  law  of  Islam  as  final;  not  only  the 
law  of  the  Koran,  but  the  traditional  law  of  Shiah  interpre- 
tation. “One  might  as  well  bind  together  the  American  con- 
stitution and  the  Talmud,”  says  Dr.  Shedd,  “and  make  the 
latter  supreme  and  inviolable.”  And  Lord  Cromer  in  his 


12  THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


“Modern  Egypt”  states  that  it  has  yet  to  be  proved  whether 
Islam  can  assimilate  civilization  without  succumbing  in  the 
process.  He  adds:  “Reformed  Islam  is  Islam  no  longer.” 

The  political  question  today  in  Persia  and  in  Turkey  is 
whether  the  old  Koran  or  the  new  constitution  shall  have  the 
right  of  way.  Although  the  Sheikh-el-Islam  has  publicly  de- 
clared that  “The  Turkish  parliament  is  the  most  exact  appli- 
cation of  the  Koranic  law  and  constitutional  government  is  the 
highest  possible  illustration  of  the  caliphate,”  we  have  a right 
to  doubt  his  assertion — remembering  the  thirteen  centuries  of 
Moslem  intolerance  and  despotism.  Those  who  read  the 
Koran  in  Morocco,  Eastern  Turkey  and  Arabia  have  not  yet 
discovered  its  constitutional  principles,  and  the  reaction  against 
the  new  Sultan  and  the  new  parliament  is  already  deep  and 
widespread.  One  of  the  most  prominent  dailies  in  Cairo  is 
advocating  the  restoration  of  Abdul  Hamid,  while  in  Yemen 
a new  Mahdi  has  appeared,  whose  followers  number  twenty- 
five  thousand.  He  preaches  the  old  religion,  and  by  his  au- 
thority liars  are  punished  by  the  pulling  out  of  the  tongue  and 
thieves  by  the  amputation  of  the  hand. 

The  conflict  between  the  old  and  the  Young  Turkish 
party  is  not  only  inevitable,  but  is  irreconcilable.  Both  parties 
are  animated  by  the  same  patriotism,  but  their  ideals  are  wholly 
different  and  contradictory.  For  the  Old  Turks  Islam  is  an 
end;  for  the  New  Turks  it  is  not  an  end,  but  only  a means. 
The  New  Turks  are  hoping  to  put  the  new  wine  into  the  old 
bottles  by  carefully  diluting  it,  while  the  Old  Turks  have  no 
use  for  the  new  wine  at  all.  In  the  present  Turkish  Parlia- 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA  1 3 


ment,  out  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-six  members,  two  hundred 
and  thirteen  are  Moslems,  and  it  would  be  safe  to  say  that  the 
vast  majority  are  at  heart  opposed  to  any  change  in  the  real 
character  of  Islam  and  will  fight  to  the  end  to  make  it  the  only 
religion  of  the  state. 

Islam  does  not  believe  in  a state  church,  as  Lord  Curzon 
has  pointed  out,  but  in  a church  state,  and  Lord  Cromer  has 
shown  in  his  “Modern  Egypt”  that  the  three  great  defects  of 
Islam — the  position  of  womanhood,  its  unchanging  civil  law, 
and  its  intolerant  spirit — are  forever  incompatible  with  real 
progress.  When  a man  so  well  informed  as  Lord  Cromer  says 
it  is  imposible  we  must  not  be  too  ready  to  believe  that  the  pro- 
mulgation of  a paper  constitution  is  enough  to  insure  Western 
Asia  at  once  the  rights  we  have  purchased  for  ourselves  in  the 
course  of  centuries  at  a great  price.  The  conflict  is  not  merely 
political,  but  industrial  and  social.  It  is  a struggle  between 
two  civilizations;  between  the  ideals  of  the  Moslem  world  and 
those  of  Christendom.  Islam  has  run  its  roots  deep  for  thir- 
teen centuries  into  all  the  ideals  of  the  East.  Architecture,  art, 
music,  social  life,  language,  literature — all  these  by  their  pres- 
ence or  by  their  absence  proclaim  the  power  of  Mohammed 
and  his  faith.  You  might  as  well  try  to  pick  out  the  fossils 
from  a limestone  rock  with  your  finger  nail  as  to  remove  from 
Arabic  literature  the  traces  of  Mohammedanism. 

The  clash  of  modern  civilization  against  the  teachings  of 
Islam  is  evident  on  every  hand.  When  it  was  proposed  to  adopt 
European  time  for  Turkey  the  clerical  party  made  such  an  up- 
roar that  the  President  of  the  Chamber  was  compelled  to  leave 


I 4 THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


the  House  and  the  motion  was  withdrawn.  So  the  days  con- 
tinue to  begin  at  sunset  and  watches  must  be  reset  every  day 
because  of  the  Koran.  The  new  railway  to  Mecca  is  fitted  up 
with  a chapel  car  in  the  shape  of  a mosque.  This  car  allows 
pilgrims  to  perform  their  devotions  during  the  journey  and  has 
a minaret  six  feet  high.  Around  the  sides  are  verses  from 
the  Koran ; a chart  at  one  end  indicates  the  direction  of  prayer, 
and  at  the  other  end  are  vessels  for  the  ritual  ablutions.  Will 
the  orthodox  Arabs  consider  such  prayer  de-luxe  in  accord 
with  Mohammed’s  teachings?  As  long  as  Mohammed  and 
his  teaching  are  the  ideals  of  conduct  and  the  standard  of 
character  there  must  be  this  clash  between  modern  civilization 
and  the  unchangeable  standards  of  Arabian  medievalism.  If 
it  is  impossible  to  change  the  curriculum  of  El  Azhar  Univer- 
sity in  Cairo,  will  that  institution  or  Robert  College  control  the 
thought  of  Western  Asia? 

When  freedom  was  proclaimed  in  Persia  and  Turkey, 
newspapers  sprang  up  like  mushrooms,  and  nearly  all  of  them 
were  advocates  of  liberty,  equality  and  freedom.  In  Teheran 
the  names  of  the  journals  themselves  were  indicative  of  prog- 
ress. The  newsboys  cried  out  their  wares  and  sold  copies  of 
“TTie  Assembly,”  “Civilization,”  “The  Cry  of  the  Coun- 
try,” “The  True  Dawn,”  “Progress,”  and  “Knowledge,” 
The  French  Revue  du  Monde  Musulman  published  a list  of 
no  less  than  seven  hundred  and  forty-seven  newspapers  and 
magazines  which  had  been  issued  in  Turkey  since  July  24, 
1 908,  the  birthday  of  liberty.  The  old  order  of  the  press  has 
gone.  Censorship  has  ceased,  but  whither  is  the  new  journal- 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA  1 5 


ism  drifting?  It  is  very  significant  that  some  of  the  leading 
papers  are  already  the  mouthpieces  of  intolerance  and  show  a 
sullen  attitude  toward  Christianity  and  reform,  stating  that  the 
constitution  is  destructive  of  the  sacred  law  of  Mohammed. 

The  position  of  womanhood  will  also  be  determined  in  the 
coming  struggle.  Some  of  the  women  themselves  are  asserting 
their  rights,  abolishing  the  use  of  the  veil  and  claiming  the 
privileges  and  honor  of  womanhood.  There  is  loud  demand  for 
female  education.  Judge  Kasim  Ameen,  a leading  Moslem  in 
Cairo,  published  two  books  on  “The  Emancipation  of  Woman- 
hood,” which  have  had  a wide  circulation  in  Western  Asia. 
He  exposes  the  evils  of  polygamy  and  urges  that  it  be  prohib- 
ited by  law.  “Polygamy,”  says  he,  “produces  jealousies, 
hatred,  intrigues  and  crimes  innumerable.  Many  critics  claim 
that  women  in  the  harems  are  happy.  How  do  they  know? 
Have  they  any  knowledge  of  harem  life?”  No  wonder  these 
books  aroused  a storm  of  opposition  and  bitter  reply.  To  pro- 
hibit polygamy  by  law  would  be  to  abrogate  the  Koran  and 
to  stigmatize  the  prophet.  Civilization  alone  will  not  end 
the  horrors  of  Islam  behind  the  veil  in  Persia  and  Arabia. 
Pierre  Loti’s  “Disenchanted”  shows  that  the  civilization  of 
the  harem  without  emancipation  means  moral  suicide!  Only 
Christ  can  emancipate  Moslem  womanhood,  and  three-fourths 
of  all  the  women  in  Western  Asia  are  still  under  the  yoke  of 
this  awful  creed,  suffering  the  burden  of  tyranny  and  oppression. 

There  can  be  no  real  liberty  in  any  department  of  life, 
under  Moslem  rule.  Fifty  years  ago  the  Sultan  said  in  his 
great  edict  of  emancipation:  “All  forms  of  religion  shall  be 


o 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


allowed  to  exist  in  my  realm  without  let  or  hindrance,  and  no 
subject  shall  be  molested  in  the  exercise  of  his  faith.  None 
shall  be  forced  to  renounce  his  religion.”  Fifty  years  ago  this 
constitution  declared  that  no  one  in  the  bounds  of  the  Turkish 
Empire  should  be  persecuted  for  his  religion.  Fifty  years  ago 
there  was  religious  liberty  on  paper.  Three  years  ago  there 
was  religious  liberty  on  the  streets.  Moslem  and  Armenian 
embraced  each  other.  In  great  capitals  over  arches  of  triumph 
you  could  read,  “Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity.”  “The  fear 
of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom.”  People  were  frantic 
with  joy.  They  held  memorial  services  over  the  Armenians 
killed  in  the  massacres  years  ago  and  over  the  Turks  who  had 
died  in  the  revolution.  It  seemed  the  dawm  of  a new  era. 

And  then  came  Adana.  Yes,  Adana.  If  there  is  a 
single  word  that  would  stir  the  passion  in  the  blood  of  age  and 
make  an  infant’s  sinews  strong  as  steel  it  is  that  single  word 
Adana.  We  could  not  have  said  it  at  Nashville;  we  could 
not  have  said  it  two  years  ago;  but  now  we  must  say  “Adana!” 
And  if  Jesus  Christ’s  love  is  to  be  our  example,  then  after  we 
say  “Adana,”  and  after  we  read  “Adana,”  you  and  I must 
say,  as  He  said:  “Love  your  enemies.  Do  good  to  them  that 
hate  you.  Pray  for  those  that  despitefully  use  you  and  perse- 
cute you;  that  you  may  be  the  children  of  your  Father  which  is 
in  Heaven.”  And  here  is  the  record,  not  the  sensational  re- 
ports of  the  press,  not  the  letters  of  missionaries  written  in  the 
terror  of  their  suffering  and  sorrow  and  despair,  but  the  cold- 
blood  summing  up  in  Boston,  in  the  office  of  the  American 
Board’s  Monthly  after  the  storm  was  over.  “The  atrocity 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA  1 7 


with  which  these  Moslems  devised  tortures  and  insults  to  in- 
crease the  agony  of  those  they  killed  was  truly  fiendish,  almost 
unbelievable  and  far  too  horrible  to  relate  in  detail.  Solemn 
promises  were  violated  and  whole  villages  were  tricked  into 
giving  up  their  arms  that  they  might  be  slaughtered  without 
means  of  defense,  like  rats  in  a hole.  Women  were  com- 
pelled to  watch  while  their  husbands  and  children  were  killed 
before  their  eyes;  groups  were  tolled  off  and  marched  to  some 
convenient  place,  where,  instead  of  being  shot  as  they  entreated 
and  begged,  they  were  mercilessly  hacked  to  pieces,  men  and 
women  and  little  children,  as  it  was  said,  ‘Not  to  waste  pow- 
der and  bullets  on  such  swine.’  Dead  and  wounded  were  then 
piled  together  and  fires  built  to  consume  them.  Mothers  with 
newborn  babies  were  dragged  from  their  hiding  places  and 
life  beaten  out  of  them.  Women  and  girls  were  reserved  for 
a worse  fate.  Everywhere  there  was  an  orgy  of  hate  and  lust, 
with  hardly  a hand  lifted  to  end  the  struggle.” — The  fury  of 
that  mob  has  ceased,  but  the  character  of  Islam  has  not 
changed.  It  was  not  a merry  Christmas  in  Celicia,  with  twenty 
thousand  orphans  uncared  for  and  widows  crying  to  God  for 
the  avenging  of  their  slain.  And  there  has  been  no  vengeance 
nor  a just  meting  out  of  adequate  punishment. 

What  does  it  mean?  It  means  the  life  and  death  strug- 
gle of  men  who  believe  their  religion,  who  persecute  for  their 
religion.  It  means  also  that  back  of  Adana  (God  grant  it) 
there  may  have  been  Sauls  of  Tarsus  by  the  score,  who 
breathed  threatening  and  slaughter  against  the  Church  of  God 
because  already  the  arrow  of  conviction  was  in  their  souls,  and 


18  THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


they  were  kicking  against  the  goads  of  the  Christ.  Not  in  vain 
for  fifty  years  have  the  American  missionaries  in  Turkey,  like 
Miner  Rogers  and  Henry  Maurer,  poured  out  their  life  and 
their  love  and  scattered  the  Word  of  God  by  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  copies.  “Whatsoever  a man  soweth,”  God  saith, 
“that  shall  he  also  reap,”  and  as  sure  as  God’s  law,  we  may 
look  upon  Turkey  as  the  coming  nation  of  the  future,  in  West- 
ern Asia.  For  if  anything  is  true,  it  is  this,  that  Western  Asia 
is  through  and  through  religious.  In  Arabia,  when  they  quar- 
rel, they  begin  by  calling  their  enemy  a swine;  they  go  farther 
when  they  call  him  a Jew;  then  they  say  he  is  a Christian;  and 
if  they  want  to  rise  to  the  very  height  of  all  vituperative,  they 
say,  “That  man  is  a Kaffir,  he  is  a man  without  faith.”  In 
Turkey  you  cannot  insult  a man  with  a more  damning  insult 
than  to  say  of  him  that  he  is  “dinsiz,"  a man  without  religion. 
What  a wonderful  part  of  the  world,  where  the  fact  of  not 
having  a faith  in  the  supernatural  brands  a man  as  belonging  to 
the  very  lowest  caste  of  society. 

There  is  not  the  least  doubt  that  tens  of  thousands  of 
Moslems  in  Turkey  and  Persia,  and  even  in  Arabia,  are  in- 
tellectually convinced  of  the  truth  of  Christianity  over  against 
Islam.  The  philosophical  disintegration  of  Islam,  which  began 
in  Persia  by  the  rise  of  Moslem  sects,  is  now  being  hastened 
through  newspaper  discussions.  There  is  a general  unrest. 
There  are  frantic  attempts  to  save  the  ship  by  throwing  over- 
board much  of  the  old  cargo.  The  attack  on  orthodox  Mo- 
hammedanism was  never  so  keen  or  strong  on  the  part  of  any 
missionary  as  has  been  the  attack  from  those  inside  Islam.  If 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA  19 


you  will  read  the  report  of  the  Mecca  Conference,  when  forty 
Moslems  met  together  in  secret  conclave  to  point  out  the 
causes  of  decay  in  their  religion  and  listed  them — fifty  and 
more  defects  in  this  religion  of  their  prophet — and  published 
the  list  as  a document  to  scatter  over  the  Moslem  world,  you 
will  no  longer  accuse  any  missionary  of  dealing  harshly  with  this 
tissue  of  falsehoods  buttressed  by  some  great  truths  which  we 
call  Islam.  If  Islam  reformed  is  Islam  no  longer,  then  what 
will  take  the  place  of  the  old  traditions?  When  the  shriek  of 
the  locomotive  is  heard  at  Mecca,  will  Arabia  sleep  on  in  its 
patriarchal  sleep?  Will  the  Nomads  beat  their  swords  into 
plowshares  and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks,  when  modern 
irrigation  transforms  the  desert  into  a garden?  Will  Moham- 
medanism with  its  ideals  prevail,  or  Christianity?  Will  polyg- 
amy or  monogamy?  Will  a free  press  or  a press  that  is  throt- 
tled? Will  the  constitution  or  the  Koran  be  the  law  of  West- 
ern Asia?  Will  there  be  more  Adanas  or  will  there  be  more 
proclamations  of  liberty,  equality,  fraternity?  Will  the  ideal 
of  character  be  Mohammed  or  Christ?  For,  believe  me,  in 
the  final  issue,  in  the  last  analysis,  the  struggle  now  going  on  in 
Western  Asia  in  hearts,  in  homes,  in  parliaments,  in  the  press, 
is  the  struggle  between  two  great  personalities. 

I wish  I might  call  upon  any  Moslem  mullah  to  whom  I 
could  speak  the  Arabic  tongue  and  ask  him  one  question  and 
let  his  answers  convince  you.  I will  ask  the  question  and  any 
missionary  will  tell  you  that  this  Moslem  mullah  would  ans- 
wer “Yes.”  I will  ask  my  Moslem  friend  whether  the  words 
that  I now  quote  are  not  every  one  of  them  true  as  regards  the 


20  THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


prophet  Mohammed,  according  to  Moslem  teaching:  “Who 
is  the  first  born  of  all  creation.  For  in  him  were  all  things 
created,  in  the  heavens  and  upon  the  earth,  things  visible 
and  things  invisible,  whether  thrones  or  dominions  or  principali- 
ties or  powers.  All  things  have  been  created  through  him  and 
unto  him,  and  in  him  all  things  consist,  and  he  is  the  head  of  the 
body  of  the  church  of  Islam,  who  is  the  beginning,  the  first 
born;  that  in  all  things  Mohammed  might  have  the  pre-emi- 
nence.” That  is  good  orthodox  Mohammedanism.  I can  match 
every  statement  taken  from  the  Apostle  Paul  in  Mohammedan 
tradition;  I can  match  every  statement  in  a single  Mohamme- 
dan hymn  called  “The  Poem  of  the  Mantle,”  in  which  they 
say,  “All  glory  and  praise  be  to  Mohammed,  the  glory  of  his- 
tory, the  first  born  of  all  creatures.”  But  ijou  do  not  believe 
that.  Hear  the  words  of  Isaiah:  “Jehovah,  that  is  my  name, 
and  my  glory  will  I not  give  to  another,  nor  my  praise  to 
graven  images.”  That  is  the  issue  in  Western  Asia.  And  if 
that  issue  means  a struggle,  and  a struggle  to  the  end  then 
you  and  I must  accept  that  issue  or  prove  disloyal  to  Him 
whom  we  call  our  King,  “in  whom  dwelleth  all  the  fullness  of 
the  Godhead  bodily” — not  in  Mohammed.  In  Him  are  hid 
all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  He  is  the  ideal 
of  character,  not  Mohammed.  “Thou,  O Christ,  art  all  they 
want.”  Do  you  believe  it?  Will  you  give  Christ  to  them? 
That  is  the  issue  of  the  conflict. 

III.  And  what  is  the  hope  of  victory?  The  victory  is 
not  hanging  in  the  balance.  It  is  no  question  of  a final  issue. 
It  is  merely  a question  whether  it  shall  be  now  or  shall  be  long 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA  21 


deferred.  God  has  thrown  open  wide  the  doors,  and  shown 
us  men  inside  the  camp  who  are  prepared  to  surrender  the  keys 
of  the  whole  situation.  He  has  unmuzzled  the  press,  and  given 
us,  not  as  a promise  or  a prophecy,  but  as  newspaper  history 
— “Be  of  good  cheer,  I have  overcome  Persia,  I have  over- 
come Turkey,  I have  overcome  Arabia.”  Where  is  our  cour- 
age, that  we  hang  back?  Fear  sees  giants,  but  faith  sees  only 
God.  I never  deny  the  struggle,  but  gain  faith  from  that  won- 
derful parable  of  Jesus  Christ  when  I think  of  the  Moslem 
world  and  of  Arabia:  “When  a strong  man,  fully  armed, 
guardeth  his  palace,  his  goods  are  at  peace;  but  when  a 
stronger  than  he  shall  come,  he  taketh  from  him  all  the  armor 
in  which  he  trusted  and  divideth  his  spoil.”  To-day  has  this 
Scripture  been  fulfilled  before  our  very  eyes.  This  day  there 
are  glorious  opportunities  for  every  man  and  woman  who  vol- 
unteers for  Western  Asia.  Every  one  of  the  mission  sta- 
tions is  fearfully  undermanned,  and  calls  loudly  for  re-in- 
forcements.  Educational,  industrial,  medical  opportunities 
abound  everywhere  throughout  Western  Asia.  Doors  of  op- 
portunity are  open  in  every  one  of  the  great  cities  to  prepare 
not  only  the  teachers  of  to-morrow,  but  the  statesmen  to  guide 
the  ship  of  state  over  the  stormy  seas  of  social  and  religious 
unrest. 

And  look  beyond.  In  every  unoccupied  part  of  the  vast 
field  there  is  such  unique  opportunity  as  never  has  been  since 
the  days  of  the  apostles;  and  there  are  glorious  impossibilities 
in  these  unoccupied  fields.  There  is  the  greater  part  of  Rus- 
sian Asia,  there  are  four  provinces  in  Arabia,  there  is  one  prov- 


22  THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


ince  in  Persia  without  a single  missionary.  It  is  easy  for  us 
to  sing  as  soldiers  of  the  Cross,  “Like  a mighty  army  moves  the 
Church  of  God.”  It  does  not  move.  It  hugs  the  trenches,  and 
out  there  you  are  leaving  single  workers  to  die  alone.  Hear 
their  cry.  Hear  their  prayer: 

“More  than  half  beaten,  but  fearless, 

Facing  the  storm  and  the  night; 

Breathless  and  reeling,  but  tearless. 

Here  in  the  lull  of  the  fight, 

I who  bow  not  but  before  Thee, 

God  of  the  fighting  Clan, 

Lifting  my  fists  I implore  Thee, 

Give  me  the  heart  of  a man! 

What  though  I live  with  the  winners. 

Or  perish  with  those  who  fall; 

Only  the  cowards  are  sinners. 

Fighting  the  fight  is  all. 

Strong  is  my  foe — he  advances! 

Snapt  is  my  blade,  O Lord ! 

See  the  proud  banners  and  lances! 

Oh  spare  me  this  stub  of  a sword!” 

TTiat  is  the  cry  that  goes  up  from  your  missionaries,  lonely 
soldiers  who  have  waited  long  for  reinforcements  with  hope  de- 
ferred, but  with  hearts  on  fire. 

Thank  God  also  for  the  inspiration  of  the  pioneers  who 


THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA  23 


died  not  having  received  the  promise.  No  part  of  the  world 
has  a richer  heritage  of  predecessors.  Upon  whom  has  their 
mantle  fallen?  Who  will  smite  the  Jordan  and  see  it  part 
asunder?  Where  is  the  Lord  God  of  Henry  Martyn  and 
Keith  Falconer;  the  God  of  Parsons  and  Fiske,  of  Goodell 
and  Dwight,  of  Hamlin,  Van  Dyck  and  Bishop  French?  He 
can  do  it  if  He  will. 

In  the  impending  struggle  throughout  all  Western  Asia, 
the  clash  of  mediaeval  with  modern  thought,  of  barbarism  against 
civilization,  of  the  Koran  against  the  Bible,  of  Christ  against 
Mohammed,  what  part  shall  the  students  of  America  play? 
No  field  in  the  world  calls  for  a more  dauntless  faith  and  more 
fearless  manhood  than  these  lands  of  Western  Asia.  But  love 
is  strong  as  death;  love  laughs  at  locksmiths,  and  there  are  no 
closed  doors  for  the  Gospel  of  the  living  Christ.  It  is  now  or 
never  for  self-sacrificing  obedience. 

Far  above  the  fight  is  our  Captain  and  every  missionary 
to  the  Moslem  world  turns  to  that  nineteenth  chapter  of  the 
Book  of  Revelation.  I believe  God  gave  it  to  us  for  this 
struggle  in  Western  Asia — the  last  portrait  of  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.  “I  saw  heaven  opened,  and  I saw  a white  horse, 
and  he  that  sat  upon  him  was  called  Faithful  and  True,  and 
in  righteousness  he  doth  judge  and  make  war.”  And  the 
armies  of  Heaven  followed  him,  until  the  end  of  the  struggle 
is  complete  and  final  victory  for  the  Son  of  God. 

Twenty  years  ago,  I stood  on  Arabian  soil  for  the  first 
time,  and  walked  beyond  the  wall  of  Jiddah  to  the  great  gate 
that  leads  out  to  Mecca.  I did  not  know  much  Arabic,  but 


24  THE  IMPENDING  STRUGGLE  IN  WESTERN  ASIA 


I could  spell  out  the  words  over  the  gate,  and  they  were  these: 
“Ya  Fattah,”  (O  thou  who  openest).  Is  not  that  gate  a 
symbol,  not  only  of  Mecca  with  its  closed  doors,  but  of  every 
difficulty,  of  every  glorious  impossibility?  I thought  then  and 
I think  now  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  “On  whose  shoulders 
are  the  keys  of  the  house  of  David,  who  openeth  and  no  man 
shutteth,  who  shutteth  and  no  man  openeth.”  To  His  King- 
dom there  are  no  frontiers ; in  His  Kingdom  there  are  no  pass- 
ports; in  His  Kingdom  there  is  absolute  liberty.  He  is  Lord 
of  all.  Will  you  accept  His  challenge  and  go? 

Above  all,  think  of  the  inspiration  of  His  life  in  Western 
Asia.  If  God  so  loved  the  world.  He  loved  it  as  a unit;  but 
if  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  Man,  He  loves  Western  Asia. 
His  manger  and  His  Cross  stood  there.  In  Western  Asia  His 
blood  was  spilled.  In  Western  Asia  He  walked  the  hills. 
There  His  tears  fell  for  Jerusalem.  There  His  eye  still  rests. 
Thither  He  will  come  again.  It  was  in  Western  Asia  that 
He  said,  “All  authority  is  given  unto  Me;”  and  although  for 
thirteen  centuries  His  royal  rights  have  been  disputed  by  a 
usurper,  they  have  never  been  abrogated.  Shall  we  give  West- 
ern Asia  to  Him,  or  shall  Western  Asia  remain  the  Empire  of 
Mohammed?  Shall  Bethlehem  hear  five  times  a day  “There 
is  no  god  but  God,  and  Mohammed  is  God’s  apostle,”  and 
shall  not  a single  one  of  us  dare  go  if  God  will  to  Mecca  itself, 
the  very  stronghold  of  Islam,  and  preach  the  Gospel  of  the 
great  King? 


Copies  of  this  pamphlet  may  be  ordered  from 
the  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  125  East  27th 
Street,  New  York  City,  at  5c.  each,  40c.  per  dozen, 
$2.50  per  hundred,  express  charges  prepaid. 

Other  addresses  delivered  at  the  Sixth  Inter- 
national Convention  of  the  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment may  be  found  in  the  official  Report  which  may 
be  ordered  from  the  above  address;  pi  ice  $1.50. 


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